Contributors Michael Stephens

4147 posts

An IM Refererence Report

I received a nice e-mail from a librarian at met at CIL. Liesbeth Mantel from Erasmus University Library, Rotterdam, The Netherlands asked if we might discuss IM a bit. She blogs at http://www.moqub.com/. I’ve heard from other colleagues in Europe that a lot of librarians are starting to talk about IM reference, which makes me happy. I asked Liesbeth if I could post this at TTW as well and she said yes. Liesbeth sent a set of questions I’ll do my best to answer. IM Librarians: please comment or e-mail if you have more to add! I’d also point you […]

The Goblin on L2

Library 2.0 isn’t really about Ajax or RSS feeds or open APIs. Those are just emblematic of what Library 2.0 really is: a DIY aesthetic and a manic demand to constantly change our libraries and our selves. Read more at: http://www.goblin-cartoons.com/library/mt-archives/2006_04.html#000657

TTW Comments Feed!

Steve Lawson, author of See Also, RULES the SCHOOL today! Subscribe to TTW Comments Steve emailed: To get this to work, go to Templates, and create a new index template. I named mine “RSS 2.0 Comments” and gave it the filename “comments.xml”. Cut and paste the code below. Save and rebuild and see what show up at http://tametheweb.com/comments.xml If it looks OK-ish, let me know and I’ll subscribe and see how it looks in my aggregator. -Steve Steve included the code and I followed his directions and BOOM! comments! Thanks Steve!

On the “Mobile Office” and off to the Northwest

At Panera again today: I used to call this the “Mobile Office” and it’s become just that as I write my research proposal and Library Technology Report. It’s almost like working again: I get here before 8am and stay all morning or sometimes into the afternoon. I am seeing folks — regulars, I guess — I used to chat with in the spring of 2003 when I started TTW. Jenny and I updated the Roadshow here last week because tomorrow we’re off to the Washington Library Association to present the Roadshow as a preconference workshop. I’m looking forward to meeting […]

Library Director: Are you ready to go there?

Deep in my research proposal this morning at the Mishawaka Panera Bread, Blyberg’s statement resonates with me while writing about the social purpose of Library Weblogs: Early in the website design process, we made the decision that blogs would constitute the nucleus of our dynamic website content. In addition, we wanted to enable commenting on those blogs. We really had no idea what kind of response we would get–of what form that response would take. Just a brief look at our Director’s Blog will illuminate the fact that the blogs promote a constant two-way dialogue between our director, Josie Parker, […]

John Blyberg Lets the Patrons Drive

Another link this morning: http://www.higheredblogcon.com/index.php/patrons-in-the-drivers-seat-giving-advanced-tool-sets-to-library-patrons/ John’s presentation at HigherEdBlogCon takes readers through his experiences at AADL and offers some practical advice for some of the innovations he’s worked on. He concludes: Just as each library community is different, so should our deliverales be, but at the heart of it all should be the idea that we’re building and fostering a community. In return, our users wil be stewards of an online palace of information that fronts for tangible material–books that illuminate, movies that stir, and music that moves us.

Creating a positive Customer Experience

Zip on over to Library Garden for this post from Peter Bromberg: http://librarygarden.blogspot.com/2006/04/practical-tips-on-creating-positive.html Peter is going to offer practical tips on improving customer service, which he chooses to call “customer experience.” I like that and it ties in so well with our discussions of barriers, sacred cows and more. Put Library Garden in your aggregator of choice folks! Practical tip #1: Start thinking about your customers’ experience. What do they experience when they walk in the door? When they visit your webpage? When they call your phone? When they email you? Ask these questions and encourage co-workers to do the […]